


What I Didn't Say

by TangentQueenOfDragons



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Spoilers for 5x13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 02:19:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TangentQueenOfDragons/pseuds/TangentQueenOfDragons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I want to say something I’ve never said to you before."</p>
<p>But Arthur had said 'thank you' to Merlin many times before.</p>
<p>So what was he really going to say?</p>
            </blockquote>





	What I Didn't Say

**Author's Note:**

> Just a thought I've always had

"I want to say something I’ve never said to you before."

_I love you._

But…

He couldn’t say it.

What if Merlin didn’t feel the same way? Knowing him, he’d carry guilt with him long after Arthur’s death.

And worse; what if he did?

What if Merlin had loved Arthur as much as Arthur had loved him? What would it do to learn that now, when it was too late?

If it were the other way around, Arthur wouldn’t want to hear it.

It wouldn’t be fair to tell him, as much as he wanted to. He couldn’t be selfish.

So he didn’t say ‘I love you’. He said ‘thank you’. Even though he’d said it many times before. And a part of him still hoped that Merlin knew what he meant.

By the look in his eyes, Arthur thought he did.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please comment and tell me what you think :)


End file.
